Camden's biggest problems are perception and a lack of nearby amenities. I have the feeling both will change sooner than later. I have a couple of properties in the Lanning Square Neighborhood very closer to Cooper Hospital. I think most Philadelphian's would be amazed at how beautiful some of these streets are, you'd think you were in Society Hill. There have already been some new row homes put up on the street I own on, numerous new businesses have been popping up on Broadway.

I mean it honestly boggles my mind how quickly a place like Brewerytown can up, when it's actually kind of challenging to commute downtown from that area. From Lanning square, it's a less than 10 minutes ride on Patco before you're right in the middle of downtown. And the prices are much less. It's only a matter of time.

I don't know Camden well but I did notice the area behind Copper has a few small blocks here and there where the homes are well kept and they looked more West Philly-ish to me but maybe you could post some google street view links showing the area to which you are referring, the Society Hill-ish areas?

I haven't heard anything about the big ass development project that was planed for the old
Sears and Campbell's soup area . Did Subaru change it's mind about moving to that area . :shrug:

He’s probably talking about the 400 block of s 7th which has cobblestone and looks really nice.

Also see Chambers Avenue. If Camden ever does really turn the corner these homes are going to be worth a lot.

I would not call this Society Hill, and there are not that many houses, but lots of potential. The houses on the adjacent blocks look pretty decent.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/40...5!4d-75.115449

https://www.google.com/maps/place/40...5!4d-75.115449

https://www.google.com/maps/place/40...5!4d-75.115449

Chambers Avenue does look very nice: https://www.google.com/maps/place/42...!4d-75.1169678

https://www.google.com/maps/place/42...!4d-75.1169678

Sort of a Spruce Hill kind of vibe. What's the proximity to the waterfront area that's currently seeing development?

business and residents have been abandoning Camden for a long time . Here are a few reasons why .

Camden compared to New Jersey state average:
Median household income significantly below state average.
Median house value significantly below state average.
Black race population percentage significantly above state average.
Hispanic race population percentage above state average.
Median age significantly below state average.
Foreign-born population percentage below state average.
Renting percentage above state average.
House age above state average.
Institutionalized population percentage above state average.
Percentage of population with a bachelor's degree or higher significantly below state average.
Camden on our top lists:
#1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the least people having Doctorate degrees (population 50,000+)"
#1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the most people below the poverty level, excluding cities with 15% or more of residents in college and with the median age below 28 (population 50,000+)"
#1 on the list of "Top 100 least-safe cities (highest city-data.com crime index) (pop. 50,000+)"
#1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the most people below 50% of the poverty level, excluding cities with 15% or more of residents in college and with the median age below 28 (population 50,000+)"
#1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest number of murders per 100,000 residents, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data (population 50,000+)"
#1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females in occupations: Healthcare support occupations (population 50,000+)"
#1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest city-data.com crime index, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data (population 50,000+)"
#1 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the least people having professional degrees (population 50,000+)"
#2 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of unmarried partner households (population 50,000+)"
#2 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the lowest percentage of workers working at home, population 50,000+"
#2 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest number of robberies per 100,000 residents, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data (population 50,000+)"
#2 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest percentage of single-parent households, population 50,000+"
#3 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest number of assaults per 100,000 residents, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data (population 50,000+)"
#5 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females in occupations: Fire fighting and prevention workers including supervisors (population 50,000+)"
#5 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest average snowfall in a year (population 50,000+)"
#5 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the least cars per house, population 50,000+"
#5 on the list of "Top 101 cities with largest percentage of females in industries: Health care and social assistance (population 50,000+)"
#5 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest number of arson incidents per 100,000 residents, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data (population 50,000+)"


Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Camden...#ixzz56e60Gyl6


If positive change is coming , it's going to take a long long time . Sorry real-estate investors .

:previous: Sounds like a winner to me.
Camden is #1 place to live. :)

I wonder what Philly's stats looked like when it was at it's worst?

No, The Subaru building is almost complete. Great for Camden, not so great for Cherry Hill, where they're moving from.

A few other people already posted some good links before I saw your reply, but here's some more, all in the same area that has been posted around cooper.

Benson has hospital structures on one side, but I think the other side of the block has all houses that look great:

https://goo.gl/maps/juBtuoUbUT52

https://goo.gl/maps/NP6GU2Gt1MA2


Chambers has already been posted, but I think it's important to point out, this image is now almost 6 years old, it looks even better now and I think may be my favorite street:

https://goo.gl/maps/VFW8PDNc1Ek

Berkley is another good one, and again these photos are not current, it only looks better now:

https://goo.gl/maps/cf7D3AzFxTs


There's also some very solid new construction in the area that is making the area look even better. This stretch on 6th street I think is exceptional with the mansard roofs:

https://goo.gl/maps/ka7SNX1fgD92

(Though it is a shame about the backyard fence fronting right onto Washington St.)

Perhaps you're right that they're more West Phillyish than Society Hill, with the porches, I guess I was just talking about the combination of cobblestone, tree lined streets with old red brick architecture.

My overall point though was simply that so much of Camden's redevelopment hopes seem to be centered around waterfront highrises, I think it would be absolutely shocking for a lot people to find out that such a beautiful urban environment exists in Camden, even if it's only a few square blocks.


You're not considering something really important when you post all those facts. Those facts are for the city as a whole. Philly likely doesn't fare very well itself in many of these categories, however just looking at those overall numbers would betray the highly educated and wealthy population that we all know resides in Center City and many surrounding and outlying neighborhoods. No one is claiming the entirety of Camden is going to rebound anytime soon. I'm talking about a very specific part of the city. A part of the city that is architecturally beautiful, reasonably safe, located directly next to a major employer of high paying jobs, and is within easy walking distance of a subway stop that puts you in center Philadelphia in about 5 minutes.

I think the one part of the equation that is still missing is a trendy food/drink spot. The area has gotten more options in that regard in recent years, but they're still of the corner store, Chinese food, pizza place variety. Certainly better than nothing, but if there were a couple of neighborhood spots that served good food and/or you could grab a drink it'd be a big deal. Being a few minutes from Center City is great, but you don't want to go down town every time you want any type of entertainment.

But with the amount of new construction in this part of Camden and reinvestment into an already pretty striking part of the city, it's only a matter of time. Right now most of the people in the neighborhood work at Cooper, but eventually you're gonna get people working in Center City, deciding they'd rather take a 5 min subway ride to Philadelphia than live somewhere in the city where the commute downtown is far less convenient and where your money gets you a lot less.

I'm sorry if I'm taking this the wrong way, but are you implying these stats are bad or something? I don't know why you included the black population or Hispanic population.

Wow. I just viewed his list as a long list of Camden negatives and didn't bother to read them individually and totally missed that. I think his implication is clear. :hell:

Yea, the much smaller building down the street from Subaru were Lockheed used to have a finance office is still vacant ~7 years later. I think it will be hard to fill the old Subaru building.

Did you read the entire list ???

I didn't WRITE the list , and not sure why your tunnel vision focused on race more than 25 or 30 other reasons .
Camden has been voted /selected by reports or statistics as being one of the most dangerous cities in the country .
Its ability to remake its image is due to more reasons than what this list includes .

Parts of the city is making great strides to erase a cancer that has been growing for half a century and there is no telling
how long it will take to over come tons of bad publicity so if you want to criticize the list . criticize the entire list .

Just remember , I didn't write the list , I just printed it . If that offends , do something positive . :)

It's safe to say that the brunt of the scourge that took down small cities like Camden is in retreat right now. Suburbia and exurbia are going to be hit hard in the next few decades.

Not this again....

There isn't going to be a mass exodus from the suburbs like there was from the city in the 1950's...it's just not going to happen that way. The motivations behind that were de-industrialization and racism.

Cities are growing, which is great. Suburban sprawl is going to slow down - also great. Town centers are going to grow and become more walkable, especially those with mass transit options into cities. Philadelphia suburbs aren't shrinking, they are becoming more dense...people don't want to take cars everywhere all the time - the suburb's greatest pitfall. I will agree that exurbs with no transit options may take a hit, but there will still always be a desire from somebody to have multiple acres of land and privacy, something that doesn't exist in the city and is rare in the inner ring suburbs. Different strokes, different folks...I personally think what is happening in the US is great, people are becoming more community oriented (no matter what setting that community lies in) and there is less 'fear' of your neighbor.

This morning:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4740/...f7feac3a_b.jpg

So...it looks like Rutgers is going to be successful pouching me from Penn. I'd like to get a finger on the pulse of Camden's "revolution". Is there a master plan or something that might give me a better vision of what Camden might look like realistically in five years? I'm thinking something similar to those 3D renderings that the op makes for Philly skyline/cc?

I suppose I'm just trying to get a sense if there will actually be growth/residents/restaurants/bars/cafes that are going to start popping up in downtown Camden.

Disregard - outdated post